Mukashibanashi
by EverythingIsMagic
Summary: A Tale of Long Ago. Inuyasha is an ordinary junior high student who has a most extraordinary fifteenth birthday. Pulled into the past, he unseals Kagome, a hanyou who is just looking for some answers. An AU variation on the series. InuyashaxKagome.
1. Time Slip

**Author's Note: **I've had this idea for years but am just sitting down to right it now. Talk about a sudden strike of inspiration. I haven't even really thought about writing IY fic for almost a year. Yes, this story reverses Kagome and Inuyasha's roles. No it does not just retell the story with their places switched (and the places switched between other characters). It should be closer to a completely different story than it will be to a retelling. That's my hope at least. This is Kellychan85. My screenname is now EverythingisMagic. Enjoy!

**Japanese Glossary-**

**Mukashibanashi**- A tale of long ago.

**Kosode**- A traditional jacket/top worn by both men and women. The top Sango wears in her casual outfit is a kosode.

**Hakama****-** Very wide legged pants that tie at the waist. The wide legged pants several characters wear in the series are hakama. Some tie at the bottom like Inuyasha and Naraku's. Others are open like Kikyou's.

**Bachi**** Hebi-** Cursed Snake. Based on the _Tsuchiniko_, a much smaller mythical snake of Japan. Bachi Hebi is another name for the Tsuchiniko, but I umm… supersized it.

**Mukashibanashi**

Chapter One

By EverythingisMagic

Tenrousei Inuyasha's fifteenth birthday started out like any other of his birthdays. He woke up, opened a few gifts from his mother (a couple of new shirts, a video game, and a check), and then he and his mother took the bus to the Dusk Shrine a few kilometers away. Inuyasha's mother had made it a tradition to visit the shrine every year on his birthday morning to ask for another year's blessing in his life. He brought his backpack along and slipped on his school uniform before leaving, not thinking he'd have the time to drop by their apartment again before he went to class.

The Dusk Shrine grounds had been considered sacred for the past eight or so centuries, or so it was said. The daunting set of stairs and the current shrine architecture were not even a quarter that old. However, Inuyasha's mother told him that they had been built upon the grounds of an area that was rich with mythological history and had previously held another shrine. He didn't pay much attention to any of that. Unlike his mother, he wasn't particularly religious and didn't have the same interest in history she did.

Once they'd reached the top of the stairs, Miss Tenrousei greeted the priest and immediately headed into the shrine. Inuyasha stayed behind. He would go in after she finished. He turned away from the shrine house and came face to face with the enormous Goshinboku tree that shadowed the grounds with its leaves. The God Tree was known to be several hundred years old, gauged with scars of unknown origins and a trunk of formidable thickness. It was an impressive presence, and Inuyasha stared up at its semi-transparent green leaves, the morning sunlight sifting through them.

A sudden breeze shifted the branches and the leaves and whipped Inuyasha's long black ponytail in front of his face. He spit a piece of hair out of his mouth and frowned, shoving his ponytail back behind him and pushing a forelock behind his ear. If Inuyasha had not been so non-descript in other aspects, he would surely have gotten a lot of attention at his junior high school. Thick black hair that fell to his rear (always in a ponytail, as otherwise the school would not let him keep it long), wide violet eyes, and an extremely unusual name should have made him stand out. But he was neither a broody outsider nor was he charismatic and popular. He was just normal, like the huge majority of the other students in his class. He went to school, got decent grades, attended cram school occasionally, and found things he enjoyed in his free time.

It was all he could do to make his mother happy. It was difficult to find a part time job at his age, and he hardly had the time anyway. Away from school he had a temper, and even at school he wasn't very talkative. He bit his tongue and kept complaints to himself, trying his hardest not to stand out. Inuyasha was all his mother had. His father had died when he was just an infant in an accident and as they hadn't yet married, nothing had been left for his fiancé and her son. Inuyasha felt nothing but resentment in regards to his father, who had made no arrangements to provide for them in case something happened. His mother worked two jobs and they got by with few major problems, but Inuyasha thought she deserved better. He always had.

A moment later there was the ring of a bell, Inuyasha assumed, from his mother. She had placed a donation in the offering box and proceeded to ring the shrine bell afterward, as was custom. He figured she would be a few more minutes, so he sauntered away from the Goshinboku and reached into his backpack for an apple. He hadn't had time to eat breakfast. A short distance away from the Goshinboku was a very old well house Inuyasha had never ventured into before. He sat down on the steps and bit into his apple, leaning back to breathe in the crisp morning air. A muffled rattling noise startled him and he swiftly turned around, his focus turning to the wooden door of the ancient well house.

He was bewildered. A faint blue glow crept through the cracks under and between the doors, and the light rattling noise continued. Against his better judgment, Inuyasha stood up and ambled towards the door, slowly and with trepidation in every step. The doors creaked as he opened them, even though he did so with as much care as possible.

Inuyasha stepped inside.

The blue glow came from the well itself. It was sealed shut, but it shone out of every crack of the old wooden well and all along the lip. It was light blue, the color of hot flame. The rattling also came from inside the well. The slab of wood that was cut to seal the well had a few ofuda slapped on it and was the source of the rattling. Or rather, whatever was in the well was rattling _it_.

"Must be someone in there," he whispered to himself. "Maybe that's a flashlight and they're trying to get out?" It seemed reasonable, although that would make it a powerful flashlight and the well, covered in cobwebs and even a bit of mold, looked like it hadn't been unsealed in quite some time. He made his way down the few stairs, each creaking under his weight, and leaned over the well, the soft dirt of the floor beneath his feet.

"Oi!" He yelled. "Oi, do you need help down there?" His voice echoed throughout the small musty building. No response.

The rattling grew louder and the top of the well shook more intensely as he leaned further over the well. Startled, Inuyasha's eyes widened and he backed away. "Listen, I'm going to go and get the shrine keeper." He spoke, nervousness betraying him.

But as Inuyasha turned around to leave, the well burst open behind him. Shattered pieces of wood exploded across the well house and a few hit him, one tearing straight through the sleeve of his upper arm and causing it to bleed deeply. The blue light glowed blindingly bright, and Inuyasha shielded his face with one hand to stop it from doing so and to prevent debris from getting into his eyes. All of this happened within a moment, and when he began to recover from the shock, he thought to run. However, as he put his first foot forward to do so, his movements were halted when he was grabbed from behind. Something coiled around his center, thick, scaly and serpentine. He tried to squeeze out of its grip but it only constricted further when he did so.

Terrified Inuyasha turned to see his attacker. The eyes of a snake met his gaze. Its head was big as his own but twice as wide, and its dripping fangs were visible in its half opened mouth. Inuyasha dared to look away and down to the coils that were wrapped around his center. They were substantially thicker than the upper part of the serpent, as if its central area was much wider than the rest of the creature. Fear gripped him again and he tried to yell, but the hold the snake had on his center, around his lungs, made it difficult to breathe, let alone scream. "What… what are you?" He finally managed, his voice shallow and gasping.

The serpent did not respond but instead merely flickered its tongue, whipping its head back towards the well and diving down, taking Inuyasha with it.

The blue light surrounded him as the snake leapt into the well. He waited for the impact of the bottom, but it did not come. He and the serpent were suspended in the light, which had changed into an inky velvet blue, almost black, with patches of lighter blue throughout it. The situation was so surreal and terrifying that Inuyasha was not surprised when the snake spoke. Its voice was a hiss of a whisper, with a slightly masculine edge to it.

"You have it, you have the shikon no tama. Strange, I expected a miko." Inuyasha unthinkingly wriggled in his grasp and the snake tightened his coils. "Foolish. You're just a boy though. I suppose this will make it easier to kill you." He snickered haughtily.

Inuyasha fought to conserve his air, as he could tell he had little time left to breathe. The serpent smirked at this, as well as a snake could smirk, and opened his jaws, his lethal fangs dripping venom. "Bachi Hebi. Remember my name…."

His fanged maw bore down upon Inuyasha and he finally managed to scream, his hand against the coils wrapped around his center. White light flared from his hands and exploded, throwing the serpent from his torso immediately. Nonplussed, Inuyasha stared at his hands, which glowed faintly.

He than chanced a look at the serpent and felt promptly ill. Flesh was melting away and sloughing off from the area Inuyasha's blast had hit, revealing the innards of the grotesque serpent. Then, the most surprising thing in what could have been the merely thirty seconds (but the worst thirty seconds of his life) since he was grabbed by the serpent, occurred. Bachi Hebi, as he had called himself, simply _vanished_. And a few moments later, before he could even catch his breath, Inuyasha found himself sitting upon the hard dirt at the bottom of the well.

He took time to catch his breath now and relieved, glanced up. No sign of Bachi Hebi, but he was greeted with burning sunlight instead of a musty old well house. "What the fuck…" He glanced around the well for a way out and noticed a rope vine that reached the bottom. He grasped it, but then pulled away, looking at his hands once more. _Nothing._ No faint white glow or anything out of the ordinary. Shaking his head, he climbed up the vine and out of the well.

Sitting on the lip of the well, Inuyasha took in his surroundings. A meadow, green and flourishing with flowers dotting the grass here and there. At the edge of the meadow began a forest, its shady boughs still letting enough light in for him to see into it. He took a deep breath, and before he could assess his surroundings further, noticed the deep gash the splinters of wood had wreaked upon his upper arm. "Shit." The bleeding hadn't stopped so he quickly ripped off the lower part of his torn black sleeve. Something told him he wasn't going to run into any teachers that cared about his uniform being ripped any time soon. He folded the piece of fabric in half and pressed it firmly against the wound, then proceeded tie it off in a makeshift bandage. "Should at least stop the bleeding."

He went back to surveying the meadow. Bachi Hebi was long gone. Somehow Inuyasha knew this, as if he could _feel _it. He didn't ponder that feeling further, too perplexed by the mere idea. The more important issue was that the well had taken him somewhere, and in absence of the well house or any other part of the shrine (let alone the rest of Tokyo), he wished desperately to find somewhere familiar. _Familiar…_ He hoped his mother was okay.

The only way out of the meadow was through the forest, so Inuyasha walked towards the wood, careful of every step, listening for any possible sound. He stopped at the sound of birds, the rustle of small animals, and the falling of leaves. Everything seemed oddly _normal _here to the point that would have wondered if he'd dreamed Bachi Hebi if the well hadn't dropped him off in another place.

At the edge of an expanse of trees, Inuyasha chanced upon a clearing. The grass was bright and untouched, and there were no trodden trails signifying civilization as there had been in other parts of the forest. Some distance away was a bridge across a ravine, but here it was pristine.

That was, until he spotted the tree in the middle of the small clearing. He recognized it immediately- the Goshinboku that had occupied the Dusk Shrine grounds. He was momentarily confused by the fact that the tree was both here _and _there, but that confusion was forgotten when he noticed something that was very different about this tree. There was a figure against it, or rather on it. Vines were wrapped around its limbs and up across its torso and he could see it was wearing green clothing. He jogged towards it to investigate further, and stepped onto the bottom root of the tree.

It was a girl; about his age, perhaps, with long black hair and a somewhat petite figure. Her eyes were closed as if sleeping, but Inuyasha could feel that she was not dead. Once again, he did not understand how. He felt something from her, a sensation caused by her presence. Nothing like the one he felt from Bachi Hebi, as this one did not make him uneasy. Her clothing was archaic, and she was dressed in a masculine manner, a light green kosode and a pair of dark green hakama.

His eyes averted from her bare feet back up to her face, where he noticed something he hadn't before. Her ears were not normal human ears, but were perched on top of her head rather like a dog or a cat's ears. They were fuzzy and pointed and stood out starkly against the rest of her very normal (albeit quite pretty) appearance.

"Oi," he tried. "Wake up will you?" She did not, and Inuyasha furrowed his brow and climbed further up the roots. "Hey, I know you're not dead, woman." He gently reached up and flicked her cheek, then one of her ears. Nothing. He tried to shake her shoulders, as much as he could with the roots wrapped around her. She still did not stir, and Inuyasha was about to give up and go try to find someone else when he felt something approaching behind him.

It was that same malevolent feeling from before. It discomfited him to his core and he shuddered, fearfully turning around. At the edge of the woods and slithering towards him, was Bachi Hebi.


	2. The Awakening

**Author's Note-** Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter. I hope you enjoy what's to come.

**Mukashibanashi**

_Chapter Two_

**By Everything is Magic**

Inuyasha's eyes widened and he gulped deeply as Bachi Hebi's gaze met his own. When Inuyasha had fought off the serpent in the midst of the blue-black well, he had been limited in his survey of his appearance by the darkness. Now, in the warm mid-morning light, Inuyasha was able to discern that the monster was deep, almost muddy green with scales as big as his hand and a length of at least fifteen meters. The snake's eyes flashed crimson and it chortled. "There will be no escaping me now, boy. The shikon no tama will be mine alone." He slithered towards the Goshinboku, and Inuyasha noticed the raw bloody flesh where he had attacked the creature in the well. It had begun to heal, but the fact that the injury still pained him was obvious in the way he slithered; that part of the body, thicker than the rest of it, arched above the ground.

He felt his heart beat pulse in his ears as he glanced to and fro from the serpent to the girl on the tree. The snake was moving at a more sluggish pace due to its injury, but he was by no means slow. "What the fuck do you want?" Inuyasha yelled, his voice shaking. "I don't even know what a shikon no tama is."

Bachi Hebi paused, regarding Inuyasha with curiosity and confusion. "You are the keeper of the shikon no tama and you do not understand its power? Surely you lie."

Inuyasha took this opportunity to take a deep breath and regain his composure, holding on to a small sliver of hope that the monster might listen now. He climbed up a bit further on the roots and stood up straight. "I have no idea what the shikon no tama is. You must have the wrong guy."

"Oooh," Bachi Hebi hissed and coiled his tail closer to his upper body. "I know you are the keeper. I can feel it within you. It is unmistakable."

Pressing one of his hands against the tree root that covered the woman's torso and chest, Inuyasha felt his attempt at confidence waver. "Keh," his shaking voice betrayed himself, "you're saying I have a jewel inside of me?"

The monster serpent was growing impatient but answered him nonetheless. "I don't have time to answer your questions, boy. The jewel is inside of you, and I will rip you apart to get to it."

Inuyasha's hand, coated with sweat, slipped down the root he held himself steady with. He cursed lightly when his palm hit something sharp, presumably the end of a stick peeking out from between the knots of wood. He averted his eyes down to it and saw that it was an arrow, wedged between two adjoining roots. He tugged it very lightly, asserting that it was loose enough for him to pull out. Then he gambled on a split second idea. "Oi. You say there's a jewel in me. Well where the hell is it then?"

Bachi Hebi shook his head, seemingly amused by his attempt to delay the inevitable. "Can you not feel it? You must be more foolish than I presumed if you cannot feel something of such great power within your own body."

Closing his eyes, Inuyasha concentrated. _If there is something within me, if this guy isn't bullshitting and just making up an excuse to kill me…_ _I have to find it and hope that I can get to…_ His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden warmth, pulsing and powerful in his left side. _There. _He intentionally shut off his mind. He couldn't afford to doubt what he was about to do, especially when Bachi Hebi had started to slither towards him again.

The arrow came out of the tree with one solid jerk. Inuyasha clenched his eyes shut in anticipation as he aimed it at his left side; thrusting it in at exactly the spot he felt the warmth. The pain was blinding and he bit his lip so hard that he tasted coppery blood within a mere second. As he pulled out the arrow, attempting to ignore the searing pain and the slick blood that covered his hand, he felt something drop into his palm. It was cool and spherical and he exhaled deeply as he closed his fist around it. His plan had hinged on the small chance that the jewel was somewhere he could get to. For the first time, he inwardly thanked his mother for praying for him that morning.

Bachi Hebi had stopped, regarding the human boy and his remarkable audacity. "Dammit, just take it." Inuyasha held out the jewel, his voice steeped in agony. "I don't know what the fuck it is and I don't care, but it's yours."

Inuyasha tossed the jewel towards Bachi Hebi.

But it was not the serpent that caught it.

A flash of green and black darted between them. It was quick, but not quick enough that Inuyasha couldn't tell what it was. So distracted was Inuyasha with the pain, and Bachi Hebi with the jewel, that they had not seen her awaken, and had not noticed her discreetly tearing the roots that held her away.

It was the young woman who had been asleep on the tree. She was nimble and quiet, and caught the jewel before Bachi Hebi could snatch it up.

"Thanks for releasing me." She looked back at Inuyasha and he observed her. Her eyes were bright blue, alive, vivacious, but unmistakably irritated. "But were you actually about to give the shikon no tama to this youkai?"

"Y-youkai?" It made sense, he pondered as he placed his free hand over his wound. What else would a giant talking snake be? Yet when she said it, he felt like the last shred of reality had fallen out from under him. Hell, judging from the speed in which she moved and the ears on top of her head, the girl reprimanding him wasn't exactly natural herself. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kagome," she responded. Kagome wanted to ask him questions, because she had only once before ever been so confused in her life. But now was not the time. Not when Bachi Hebi was sizing her up, considering how to take her out in order to get to the jewel. "I can't let you have the shikon." Kagome spoke commandingly, no sign of fear in her voice. Inuyasha couldn't help but think she was used to encounters like this. "If you leave now, I'll let you go."

"OI!" Inuyasha yelled. "He tried to kill me. He's just going to try and kill someone else. Why the fuck are you going to let him go?" The words had spilled out from his mouth before he could think them through. Nonetheless, the idea that the snake might slither away unharmed infuriated him.

"Neh! I have to give him a chance. It's only fair," Kagome snapped.

The serpent uncoiled his tail and hissed angrily. "I will not take orders from you. Do you think I have no pride, _hanyou_?" He spat the last word as if it were venom.

"So that's your choice?" Kagome closed her eyes and frowned. The serpent nodded.

"I don't really care about your pride, but taking the jewel to make yourself more powerful. That's despicable!" Her voice rose in timbre and she leapt up in the air. Bachi Hebi jerked his head towards her and whipped his tail around, in an attempt to trip her. But Kagome, petite though she was, was too strong and too fast for the already injured youkai.

Inuyasha thought he heard her mutter something about how she wished she had a weapon as he watched her descend upon the snake. Her claws, which he had hitherto not noticed, were razor sharp and cut through the snake's scales easily and into its flesh. Kagome had positioned herself perfectly, and Bachi Hebi could do little as she sliced through his neck as if were made of paper, his thin bones not even proving a substantial obstacle.

A moment later, Kagome landed on the ground, Bachi Hebi's head falling several feet away from her. His body lay motionless behind her.

"Um, are you okay?" Inuyasha spoke softly, leaving the tree behind and approaching her. He couldn't deny that he found this girl a tad _terrifying,_ but she had just saved his life.

Her shoulders slumped and she lowered her face, her thick black bangs covering her eyes. "I… just want to know what's going on."

"Keh! How the hell should I know? I'm sure you have a better idea than me." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked towards her. Her slumped shoulders were shaking now and hot wet tears were falling from her cheeks.

Inuyasha hated crying. He never quite knew how to handle it. There was little that made him more uncomfortable and caused him to feel more helpless than tears. His mother was likely the reason behind that.

Despite that, Inuyasha found a kind of relief in Kagome's tears. Amidst all of the strange, strange things he'd encountered since he entered the well house earlier that morning, he was comforted by the humanity, the normality, of the unusual girl's tears.

He placed his hand on her shoulder, his body acting before his mind registered what he was doing. Kagome flinched.

"Like I said, I don't know _anything_," he explained, gentler this time. "I have no idea where I am, or what's going on, or who you are, or _what_ you are. I don't even know what a shikon no tama _is_."

Kagome looked up at him, eyes misty, and for the first time took a moment to really survey the boy, his strange clothing one of the first things she noticed. Although she could sense that he was both frustrated and bewildered, she could also see concern in his expression and in his bright violet eyes. "I'm Kagome."

"Yeah... you already said that." His lips quirked up in a slight smile. "I'm Inuyasha." Kagome blinked a few times. "I know. It's... sort of weird." He rubbed the back of his head.

"It's not that." Kagome wiped her eyes and sat down, stretching her legs out on the cool grass. "It's just ironic."

"Huh?" Inuyasha sat down next to her, dimly aware of the pain flaring up in his side as he did so.

"Never mind." She exhaled. "So even though it was inside you, you really have no idea what the shikon no tama is?" Kagome rolled the jewel along her fingers. He shook his head in the negative.

"I don't really care what it is right now," Inuyasha responded shortly. "It's something powerful that a youkai shouldn't have, okay, that's enough. I'm more interested in finding out where the fuck I am."

Kagome bit her lip. "Musashi's Domain. Did you just wander in or something?"

"Musashi's Domain?" Inuyasha gestured wildly then hissed in pain. "But I was in Tokyo!"

Kagome gazed at him, nonplussed. "Where's Tokyo?"

By this point Inuyasha had a sneaking suspicion that it was not that he was not in the where anymore, but he was in fact, not in the when. Inuyasha was still at Dusk Shrine--- that is, before Dusk Shrine existed. Any other day, any other time, he would consider a million and one conclusions before coming to this one. Historical reenactments, a fever induced dream, some bad mushrooms (although Inuyasha hated mushrooms). But after all he had been through, it hardly seemed a stretch. They were after all, having this conversation while sitting beside the corpse of a giant monster snake.

"Time… travel?" He whispered under his breath, scarcely believing the words he was uttering. "Yeah, I'm not from around here. I'm… from another country," he lied, thinking the girl from the past would scarcely be able to grasp the idea that he was from the future.

She glared at him suspiciously. "Must be a really far away country. I've never seen clothes like yours before."

"Err yeah, it's really far away."

"Where?"

"I told you… it's Tokyo," Inuyasha countered lamely. "Listen, why are you asking ME all of the questions? You're the weird one here."

Kagome gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. "You show up here from nowhere, pull me off of that tree, and have the shikon no tama inside you. I think you're the odd one out."

"No way." Inuyasha pointed at her. "When I pulled out that arrow I released you, right?" Kagome nodded. "You're asleep on a tree, have an arrow sticking through you, then wake up and decapitate a monster snake with your _fingernails_." At this Kagome looked at her bloody nails and embarrassed, wiped them on the grass. "How did you get on that tree anyway?"

"I don't have to tell you that!" Kagome snapped defensively.

"Did you do something wrong?" He raised his eyebrows, regarding her shocked expression.

"I didn't do anything!" She cried, smashing her hands onto the grass.

"Keh, if you didn't do anything why don't you tell me what happened?" There was a silent pause before Kagome exhaled deeply.

"I was attacked, okay?" She fought back furious tears and gave him a steely glare. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she frowned. "I don't really want to talk about it."

Inuyasha had no reason not to believe her, but doubt niggled at the back of his mind. He tried to push it aside. She _had _saved his life after all. "Are there… any other human beings around here?"

Kagome stiffened. "Oh I see," her voice dripped bitterness. "I'll show you where the nearest village is."

"That's not even what I meant at all." He raised his arms in exasperation and let out a string of curses as the pain in his side hit him full on again. It was severe enough that he didn't even notice that his arm had throbbed from the action as well.

Kagome stood up swiftly and rounded on him, noticing his blood soaked side and his bandaged arm. She wondered how she hadn't smelled it, but assumed that the rank stench of Bachi Hebi's carcass had blocked the scent of his blood out. "You're injured. Why didn't you tell me?"

He could hear both anger and worry in her question. "It's no big deal." He touched his side gingerly. "I was just preoccupied I guess. Y'know… giant monster snake and all."

"Neh, it is a big deal. That's really deep!" She leant down next to him and glanced from the shikon no tama in her palm to his wound, then to the arrow lying by the foot of the Goshinboku. "Wait did you…?"

"I had to get the jewel out to get Bachi Hebi away. I figured it was better me tearing me open than him," he reasoned with a shrug.

Kagome felt a smile creep across her face. "Idiotic."

"Keh! It was not."

"But I suppose if you hadn't, I'd still be sealed on that tree." Inuyasha didn't respond as Kagome took his lower arms and pulled him up off the ground. He struggled against it, but she was far stronger than him.

"…No problem." He pulled away.

"I'm going to show you where the village is now. They can take care of your wounds." She began to walk down one of the shady paths, motioning Inuyasha to follow.

He watched her, the mystery of who and what she was striking him. Hanyou, is what Bachi Hebi had referred to her as. Inuyasha wasn't stupid. The semantics were simple; half youkai. And if she were half youkai… well perhaps _that _was where the niggling feeling had come from.

"Inuyasha, are you coming?" Kagome yelled back, turning around towards him from the path. Her long black hair caught the breeze and the sunlight that managed to sift through the canopy cast her in a warm and becoming light.

No, she had saved his life and although they had far from gotten along that well in their short period of interaction, she'd done nothing wrong. He thought of her claws making quick work of a fifteen meter serpent and shuddered inwardly. But she was on his side, it seemed. There was no one else for him to trust. "Coming!"

"If your injury is hurting you too much to walk a distance, I can carry you," she offered. Inuyasha bristled. She was being completely serious, and he had no doubt it would be easy for her to do so.

He flushed, the mental image of her holding him bridal style and running through the woods was pretty much the most humiliating thing he could think of, even if no one else saw it. He took quick steps and caught up to where she was standing within a few seconds. "Keh, are you kidding me?"

"No." She placed her hands on her hips. "I was just offering."

Inuyasha "hmmphed," and the pair began walking towards the village, Kagome in the lead.

The walk was silent, both of them deep in thought, mulling over the bizarre manner in which their lives had changed. Inuyasha caught Kagome rolling the shikon no tama in her hand, and he thought to ask for it back. After all, if it had been inside him, it belonged to him… right? But he couldn't force himself to care enough to ask at the moment. There was none of the malevolent energy that had oozed from Bachi Hebi coming from Kagome. Whatever the jewel was; whatever power it held, he didn't feel it unsafe for her to be holding it. He considered how just a minute before he had been wary of her power and now, walking along with her, he felt her completely safe. She was a bundle of contradictions; one moment dangerous, the next, gentle and considerate.

They were at the edge of the village. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't even noticed the forest clearing away and the string of huts dotting the landscape and the crop fields surrounding them just ten or so meters ahead of him.

Kagome cleared her throat. "Right so… we're at the village now." Inuyasha nodded. "You might ask for the village miko. She's generally in charge of dealing with injuries and illness."

"You're not coming?" He was surprised by the question spilling out. Kagome's eyes widened, clearly surprised herself.

"I-I- can't Inuyasha," she replied quietly. "Just go by yourself. I'll… even give you the jewel. If it was inside you, I guess that makes you the guardian of it now." Kagome began to walk away, her head bowed.

"Wait." Inuyasha grabbed hold of one of her voluminous sleeves.

"Eh?" She turned around, puzzled. Inuyasha exhaled deeply, as if preparing himself for what he was about to say.

"You're the only person I know here… and I… don't want to be alone." He paused and locked eyes with her, then hurriedly continued. "So would you please come with me?"


	3. Out of Time

**Author's Note:** Thanks to all who are reading. A few of you had some questions. I won't answer any here, but all will be revealed in future chapters. This chapter is a little more dialoguecentric, as there is no actual action in it.

**Gakuran**- A Japanese male school uniform. Some schools have blazers and some have gakuran. Kagome's middle school in the manga has gakuran, so I thought it would be appropriate for Inuyasha's to be the same.

**Mukashibanashi**

_Chapter Three: Out of Time_

**By Everything is Magic**

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Kagome stiffened as Inuyasha finished his request, still holding her sleeve. "I can't do that. I can't come with you."

"Why not?" He released her kosode and crossed his arms.

Kagome closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. She opened them and let herself survey the village, far away enough that she couldn't make out many details in faces or clothing, but close enough as to where she could see what was happening. Farmers were visible out in the fields, women in yukata were carrying baskets in one arm, and a few were carrying babies in the other arm. Barefoot children tumbled about the caked dirt that made up the well-worn path between the two strings of huts. She ignored the pang in her chest, the way her heart ached at the familiarity of it all. _It looks like nothing ever happened here… _

"Neh! Why do you need to know? I just can't," Kagome reasoned, forcing a smile.

Inuyasha scratched the back of his neck. "Is it because you're a _hanyou_?"

Her blue eyes widened. "How did you… well I guess it's obvious."

"Bachi Hebi said it, remember?" He shrugged.

Sensing a perfect excuse to worm her way out of entering the village (and it's not as if she'd be lying), Kagome nodded. "Most humans are afraid of hanyou."

"Can't imagine why," Inuyasha muttered.

She glared at him, and he suppressed a gulp. "Yes, sorry for all the terrible things I've done to you, like saving your life and taking you to civilization when you were bleeding to death."

"…Wasn't bleeding to death."

"Whatever! You were injured and you needed help. I still saved your from Bachi Hebi either way," she snapped.

"Oi, sorry! I wasn't being serious," Inuyasha defended, raising his hands. Kagome glanced at him, catching his expression and perceiving that he was being truthful. She pressed her bare feet into the cool damp grass, shifting back and forth on her heels.

"It's exactly that, Inuyasha." His name still sounded strange to her, and the irony of him having a name that was far more appropriate for her, struck her every time she said it. "The strength a hanyou has alone, is enough to scare people. That's not even getting into the whole youkai thing…" She felt terrible manipulating him, attempting to use her heritage to get him into the village without her. This was not in the least because, as frustrating as he had been, she considered him genuine. He was a good person. She needed more good people in her life…

"So it's not safe for me to go into the village with you. They could hurt you, if I'm with you. Do you understand that, Inuyasha?"

He shook his head in the negative, gaze level with hers. "Since I got to this… wherever the hell I am, I've only run into two things. A giant monster snake who wanted to rip me open… and you."

"Well there's a lot of people in the village so…" She cut herself off, hoping desperately that he'd listen_. I can't risk going into that village. _"It's just not safe."

"Keh! I think I can judge what's safe or not."

Kagome's eyes averted to the bloody wound on his side. "Are you sure about that?"

His nod was firm and assertive. "I am."

"Why?" She asked, and in spite of herself, her voice broke.

"Sheesh. Don't cry, woman." He backed away, hands in front of him. "Where I come from, there's no such thing as youkai or half youkai or anything like that. I don't really care who or what you are. You're the only safe thing I've met since I got here, like I was saying. I trust you more than I'd trust any random miko in a village right now."

"Inuyasha…" She wiped her sleeve across her eyes.

"And it's not that I really care or anything but… I don't want you running off on your own when you're all upset and confused and shit." He glanced down to his shoes. "I mean I'm confused too, so we may as well stick together." He raised his eyes to meet hers again.

Kagome looked to her hands and fidgeted with her fingers. _How can I say no to him? I don't know where he's from… well Tokyo I guess, wherever that is. I don't know what he's doing here..._ It struck her that despite the fact that he was from a country 'very far away,' he spoke the same language as her. He knew what a youkai was, even if they didn't exist where he came from. Her bewilderment over the boy grew.

But to be fair, he knew as little about her as she did about him.

"Oi, we going now?" He asked, assuming that his words had changed her mind.

"I can--- "

"You can. Come on." Inuyasha smirked. "If they do anything, you can just kick their ass."

Kagome actually found herself stifling a laugh. "Neh, I can't do that!"

"Well then we can run. I don't care."

"But you're hurt…"

"I'm fine! We'll steal the stuff we need and run, if you're so worried about it."

At that, Kagome let loose and laughed. Inuyasha's mouth quirked up in a smile.

"And if we have to run, I can carry you, right?"

Inuyasha's smile turned into a scowl, albeit an amused one. "Bah! No way in hell."

Kagome stopped grinning and her expression became pensive. _I'll have to go sometime. If I don't…. I'll never be able to find any answers… about what happened here._

"We going now?" He asked again. Kagome blinked, pushing those thoughts aside, and replied affirmatively. "Good then."

Slowly at first, then speeding up as they walked, the pair began crossing the distance towards the village. As before with their path through the forest, the two walked in silence. This time, Inuyasha broke it. "Gonna ask you a question." He slowed up. "Hanyou means you're half youkai and half…"

"Human," Kagome finished. She accentuated each of the two syllables, as it was deeply important to her that he not mishear.

"Yeah that's what I figured. Makes sense." He pushed a piece of long hair behind his ear. "Don't see the big deal. There's plenty of people of two different races in my… country. I mean it's not like this obviously but… you know, it's not a big deal."

Kagome's smile was soft, not big and jubilant, but still exultant in a subtle manner. "Thank you, Inuyasha."

He flushed, unsure of how to handle her emotional response. "Bah it's… no problem." Attempting to lighten the mood, he spoke again. "But you're still scary."

"Eh? Come on!"

"Hey you!" A low voice interrupted them, and Kagome quickly identified it as a young farmer working in a field directly outside the village. "Can I help you?" Neither of them could miss the way he gave a furtive suspicious glance towards Kagome.

Thinking quickly, Inuyasha walked up to the villager. "My name's Inuyasha and I'm a…" His mind wandered back to when he first came through the well, to the blast of power that came from his hands. _Spiritual power?_ "I'm a priest." Well, it worked, although his clothing didn't remotely resemble the garb of a priest (and thinking about it, he refused to wear anything that did).

"And the youkai?"

"Hanyou," Inuyasha corrected. "I fight youkai who attack villages, and she uses her strength to help me out." Kagome's mouth dropped in surprise at his swift thinking. He was belligerent, reckless, and a bit tactless. But stupid, he was not.

"Very well…" The farmer conceded. "What may I help you with, Inuyasha-sama?"

"I'm injured, and we'd like to request some medicinal supplies from the village Miko," he spoke, mock formally. Kagome found his attempt at eloquence quite amusing. Inuyasha pointed to the injury on his side. It was still seeping blood, although the flow had slowed to a mere trickle by now. The villager spotted it and motioned for the pair to follow him.

"Come with me, Houshi-sama. I'll take you and your servant to our Miko-sama."

"Servant!?" Kagome grumbled under her breath so only Inuyasha could hear. "You can't be serious."

Inuyasha smirked. "Keh. It worked, didn't it?"

Kagome studied the young farmer as they followed behind him_. I don't recognize him. Then again… I doubt I knew everyone in the village. _

The trio entered the village, and the citizens erupted into a flurry of hushed whispers regarding the pair, before the young man announced them as a traveling priest and his servant. The villagers, mostly women, as the men were out in the fields, went on their way, occasionally shooting surreptitious glances at them out of the corners of their eyes.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Kagome on the other hand, looked about wildly, bewilderment settling in as a startling realization dawned on her.

_I don't recognize anyone…_

It hit her like a wall of water, cold and unrelenting. How long had she been sealed on Goshinboku?

There was not a single familiar face among the villagers, and none of them appeared to recognize her either. Surely if they had, their reaction would have been more hostility, less mere suspicion.

She froze. The village miko's hut was only a few steps ahead of them, and Inuyasha and the village boy had stopped as well. Her heart beat loudly in her ears. She could scarcely hear the farmer calling for their Miko-sama, or the flap to the hut opening in reply.

"May I help—Kagome?!"

It was an old woman, her silver hair pulled back, attired in the white kosode and red hakama of a miko. Kagome did not recognize _her_ either, but she recognized Kagome.

The old miko's brow furrowed and she frowned. "Kagome. Why are you in this village? Why are you alive?" Her voice was hoarse and commanding, an undercurrent of fury being kept in check. "Yousuke, leave." The village boy, blanched, bowed to the miko, and ran the other direction, back to the fields, without a word.

Kagome stepped back, panicked, arms in front of her and eyes wide as saucers. She almost tripped on her own feet, but kept herself steady. "No, no. I didn't do anything. I—I—don't know what's going on. I promise!"

"Oi!" Inuyasha yelled, standing between the two women. "Anyone care to tell me what the fuck is going on?"

"Not exactly the language of a priest, Houshi-sama," the miko quipped. Inuyasha gave her a baleful stare, and then turned back to Kagome, who was still holding her hands out in front of her.

It was then that she gasped, moved with remarkable speed for a woman her age, and grabbed the small pink jewel Kagome still held between her thumb and forefinger.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"It's yours, Houshi-sama?" The miko blinked. "You who have this… girl with you?"

"Uh. Yeah. I don't know who you are and I don't care." Inuyasha stood up straight. "But that jewel came from inside of ME, so it's _mine_."

"This can't be. This can't be…" She muttered under her breath. "You have the shikon no tama and yet you let her carry it? Do you not know who she is, what she's done?"

Kagome wanted more than anything to run, turn tail and flee the village as fast as her legs would carry her. But she was frozen, unable to move, as tumultuous thoughts ran through her mind, every which one less pleasant than the one before. _The only person who knows who I am is an… elderly miko?_

"I pulled her off the damn tree she was stuck on." He reached for the woman's hand, attempting to swipe the jewel from her grasp. She clenched her fist around it before he could snatch it. "So yeah. I know who she is."

"You know what she did to my sister then? And yet…"

"She told me she was attac—"

"Kaede?!" Kagome managed, breathless, her chest heaving. _No, no, no, no, no. _"Can't be… no."

The miko nodded. "I am indeed, Kaede."

"But you were just a little girl!"

"That was fifty years ago."

Inuyasha looked between the two women, nonplussed. Kagome didn't want to come into this village not because she was a hanyou, but because she'd apparently done something terrible fifty years ago. He felt something heavy settle in his abdomen. Guilt. He had convinced her to come here. It was his fault. He had no reason to believe Kaede over Kagome. _I was attacked_, she'd told him. Maybe both were true?

And that was fifty years ago. She had been sealed for half a century. Kagome hadn't known it until now, but she was, just like Inuyasha, out of time.

"Fifty… years." Kagome collapsed to the ground, dust rising up beneath her upon impact. She clawed the dirt beneath her, clenching her fists and lowering her head. Dry, raking sobs began to shake her body.

Inuyasha's eyes flashed dangerously towards Kaede. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I did nothing," Kaede replied, taken aback by this turn of events.

"She's fucking bawling. She was fine before she saw you." He turned on Kaede and back to Kagome, kneeling down beside her.

"Mama… Souta… Jiichan," she choked out between sobs. Tears had started to fall, turning splotches of dirt beneath her into mud. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!" Her fist pounded against the ground.

"Bring her inside," Kaede commanded. "She's in no state to be left out alone, no matter who she is."

She was a miko, so Inuyasha shouldn't have been surprised by her sudden show of compassion towards the hanyou girl. Considering the hostility up to this point though, her request threw him for a loop. "What?"

"Please, just bring her in. I have much to talk to you about as well, guardian of the shikon no tama." Kaede leveled him a glare.

Inuyasha nodded and shook Kagome. "Hey, hey. We need to go inside." She didn't budge, too caught up in herself to notice his action. Inuyasha sighed and reached behind her knees, lifting her legs up and picking her up bridal style. She didn't fight it. In fact, it was all the more difficult because she hardly stiffened when he picked her up. She was limp, dead weight in his arms. "Kagome… it's okay."

"It's not," she finally spoke, in between muffled sobs. Her fist clenched in the fabric of his gakuran. "It's not okay at all!"

His mind wandered back to what she'd cried out earlier. Mama, Souta, Jiichan. "Your… family," his voice broke as he said it. He felt her nod into his chest. "Your… _entire_ family?" She nodded again.

Inuyasha's own chest ached, as he considered his mother, where she'd be in fifty years time. He shivered. He wasn't foolish. The further you went back in time, the shorter people's lifespans were. And her Jiichan…

He almost dropped her as the insight fully registered. Kagome was all alone. Truly alone. The mere idea chilled him to the bone, as if there were nothing more terrifying in the world. And perhaps to her and to him as well, there wasn't.

Inuyasha shuddered. Subconsciously, unthinkingly, he pulled Kagome closer. He let her tears stain his jacket as they entered Kaede's hut.


	4. The Best of What's Around

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who is reading. Enjoy this chapter!

**Mukashibanashi**

_Chapter Four: The Best of What's Around_

**By Everything is Magic**

"Sit her down here." Kaede gestured to a sleeping mat beside the presently extinguished firepit. Inuyasha nodded, the woven straw that served as a door to the hut brushing him across the back as he entered. He carried the listless hanyou girl over to the mat and gingerly lowered her to the ground. Kagome mumbled a 'thank you' and pulled her knees to her chest, the green of her hakama now absorbing her still falling tears. Without a word to Kaede, and without making a conscious decision, Inuyasha sat down on the other end of the mat, an arm's length from Kagome.

"You're injured," Kaede raked her eyes to his bleeding side.

"That's… actually why we came to the village." Inuyasha crossed his arms across his chest and frowned. "Don't know what the hell else is going on, but that's all we came for. Some bandages or whatever you have."

"I'm afraid I don't understand anything that is happening here." Kaede had yet to sit down, and she switched her gaze back and forth between Kagome and Inuyasha, in attempt to keep an equal watch on both of them. Kagome, for her part, had not even moved. "You have the shikon no tama, you have somehow revived Kagome, who Kikyou sealed fifty years ago. Your clothing is foreign as well. Yet, you come to this village only to receive treatment for your injury?"

Inuyasha gave her a baleful glare. "Um yeah. That's right. Got a problem with that?"

"Can you explain how you acquired the shikon no tama?" Kaede queried. Kagome's presence was important, but the shikon no tama was a far more formidable concern.

"Oi! I told you. It came from inside me. I was fighting off this youkai by the Goshinboku, and it was after the shikon no tama. I didn't know what the fuck it was, but I figured if he got the jewel, he'd leave me alone. So I figured out where it was inside of me and… stabbed it out with an arrow." He shrugged, conveying that he didn't really think the self-inflicted wound was that big a deal. Kagome sniffed and rolled her eyes at him, then buried her face in her knees again. "But the arrow unsealed Kagome. So she killed the youkai and he didn't get the jewel after all."

"What a blessing that was," Kaede murmured.

"Well Bachi Hebi would have the jewel right now, if it weren't for Kagome."

"I meant the jewel not ending up in a youkai's hands… not Kagome…"

"Can't have one without the other," Inuyasha countered. He felt defensive of her, no doubt about that. But when she was sitting just beside him, a broken and crumpled mess, he could scarcely be anything but.

"Hm..." Kaede nodded solemnly. "And you, Houshi-sama…."

"It's Inuyasha."

"What?"

"My name is Inuyasha," he enunciated each syllable.

Kaede's brow furrowed, confusion settling deep into her features. "Dog spirit. A name more befitting of Kagome, than you."

'_It's just… ironic_,' he recalled Kagome saying when he'd introduced himself to her. His eyes wandered up to the furry black triangles atop Kagome's head. _Oh... Half inu-youkai. Hell, that's just too weird._ The irony was discomfiting, strange beyond the level of a mere coincidence. His mother had given the name due to her fondness for folklore and mythology. He imagined Inuyasha was a character in a legend she enjoyed, but he struggled to recall any specifics. Inuyasha couldn't remember if he'd just never asked her, or if he'd just forgotten because he hadn't heard the story in years. Having not taken his eyes from Kagome, he felt a pang at the sight of her tear streaked cheeks and the soaked knees of her hakama. _I'll have to try and go home to Mom soon… _

"Inuyasha-sama," Kaede interrupted his train of thought. "You have the shikon no tama inside of you, but you do not know what it is. I find that difficult to believe. The shikon no tama is a legend any learned person would know well."

"Yeah… so?"

"Are you truly a priest, Inuyasha-sama?" She inquired.

"Hmph." Inuyasha shrugged and stretched his legs out. "I have a magical jewel inside of me and can explode shit with my hands. I don't know what I am."

"Miko," came Kagome's quiet voice, from within the folds of her hakama. "The guardian of the shikon no tama has always been a miko."

Kaede nodded sagely. "She is right. Only a miko can be pure enough to constantly resist the call of the shikon no tama's power."

Inuyasha's jaw dropped, and he blinked. "Oi um, one little problem with that theory. _I'm a guy_."

"Yes I had noticed that, Inuyasha-sama," Kaede remarked dryly. "But if you able to manifest powers in your hands, and if are the guardian of the shikon no tama, you must have very impressive spiritual powers."

"Doesn't make me a miko," he grumbled.

"No you would be a priest, of course. But how unusual," Kaede tapped her chin, "that anyone, let alone a man would be born with the jewel inside of him. For one… it should have been destroyed…"

"I don't want to be a priest either." Inuyasha pushed a strand of hair behind his ear. "Now um, can we get this over with so I can leave?"

"Oh yes, your injury." Kaede walked over to the far corner of the hut and opened a wooden box. Inuyasha caught a glimpse of what was inside, herbs and strings of fabric he assumed were used as bandages. "We still have much to talk about. I will go fetch some water to clean out your wound, and we'll speak more when I return." She glanced ruefully toward Kagome. "Do you truly believe it safe to remain alone with her?"

"I do." Inuyasha did not falter.

Kaede held the shikon no tama up between two of her fingers and grabbed an empty wooden bucket with her other hand. "I will take the jewel with me, and return it once we've figured out what's happening here."

"But it's mine!"

"I realize that you are the proper guardian, but this is not a position to be taken lightly." Kaede looked down at him from her standing position. "You do not even know what it is, and you have taken a known murderer as your companion. Inuyasha-sama… I understand you may not know what's going on, so it will be safe with me right now." Kaede pushed the flap outward and left the hut.

Silence transpired between Kagome and Inuyasha once she had exited. Kagome, for her part, remained listless, unresponsive to Kaede's quipping accusation. Inuyasha gulped, his swallow settling heavily below his throat.

"Is it true?" He asked, his voice precarious. "Did you… do what Kaede said you did?"

Kagome sniffed and wiped her nose with the end of her sleeve. She lifted her head toward Inuyasha, eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I didn't. I… don't even know what she's talking about. I never would have hurt… Kikyou."

"What did she mean then?"

She bit her lip and shook her head. "I don't know…. I don't know anything about that. Kikyou was the one who attacked me. I didn't fight back. I didn't even have a chance…"

Inuyasha lapsed into silence again. Absently, he picked at the fabric of the mat below him. "There's no real reason I should believe one of you over the other, is there?"

Kagome pressed her face against her knees again. "Please believe me, Inuyasha. Please."

"I do."

She raised her eyes to him, an expression of disbelief crossing her features.

"You're the one crying. You're the one not _demanding _anything of me." He shrugged. "And damn, I just can't imagine anyone being as good at faking it as you'd have to be."

"Inuyasha…" A wan smile crossed her lips. She wiped her eyes and pushed her legs out straight.

He found the moment exceedingly awkward. "Sorry… about your family. I can't imagine losing… my mother." It sounded bad the moment it came out of his mouth. He expected Kagome to snap at him, angry that he'd tried to analogize her grief to himself.

"Your mother!" He flinched, expecting her to snap at him. "Is she back in your country?"

Surprised, he took a moment to formulate a response. "Uh yeah. She is. But I mean… I left without telling her, because I ended up here on accident." Guilt pooled in his stomach. He imagined his mother was worried, terrified even. He pictured her finding his backpack on the steps of the well-house, then immediately calling his cell phone and getting no answer. He had it in his pocket, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't get service hundreds of years in the past. She'd likely call it repeatedly, then phone the school and see if he'd shown up. She had surely done all of that by now. Now the fear would have set in. He was gone, having left only his backpack, who knows where her son could have vanished to. It had only been an hour or two since he'd fallen through the well, but it felt like days. He hoped it wasn't the same for her.

"You should go back." Kagome's voice was small, but assured. "Kaede's gone. I'll sneak you out."

"But…"

"No buts," her tone grew in timbre. "I just lost my entire family. I'm not going to let someone else lose someone…"

Inuyasha glanced at her, nonplussed. "Oi, what do you mean?"

Kagome sighed deeply. "The shikon no tama destroys lives. If you became the guardian… who knows what could happen to you."

"So you want me to go home?"

Swiftly, Kagome got to her feet and brushed the dust of the back of her pants. "You are going home, and I will walk you all the way back to your faraway country if I have to." Tears still pooled in the corner of Kagome's eyes, but her expression was determined, resolute, fiercely decisive. "Kaede won't suspect that we'd leave. She probably thinks we're both interested enough in the shikon no tama to stay behind. You don't seem to care about it, and I don't ever want to see it again."

"Ergh, okay. Let's go to the well then..." Inuyasha rubbed the back of his head and stood up himself, the pain in his side flaring up as he did so.

"Let me take care of your injury real quick. We'll just have to do without water to wash it. We can find some at a spring when we're walking." She walked over to the box Kaede kept the bandages in, and snatched up several of them. "Wait," she spoke as she rolled the bandages in her hands and stepped back to Inuyasha, "what do you mean to go the well?"

He grimaced, dreading the idea of explaining this to her. "My country is on the other side of the well. I was… pulled from it by Bachi Hebi."

"Hold up your arms," Kagome commanded gently. Inuyasha did so. She pulled up his gakuran jacket and the shirt underneath it, scrunching it up right below his chest. "It's not near as bad as it could have been, you're lucky," she stated as she surveyed his wound. "Still, it will definitely scar."

"Better than dying." Both of them blushed as her hands pressed against his side, her fingers gently moving to wrap the bandage all the way around his center.

"So you weren't being sarcastic about the well thing, were you?" She asked as she wrapped the bandage around him a second time. He shook his head in the negative. "Doesn't seem that… strange actually. I mean, I don't think there's a country in this world like the one you described earlier."

_You have no idea,_ he thought. To her, his time would surely be alien. Literally. Like she'd landed on an extra-terrestrial planet. "We go to the well, and I climb in. Last time I fell in, it took me here. I just hope it works the other way around…"

"It will. It _must_," she punctuated, tying the bandage firmly in place. "Kaede will be back soon. We have no time to waste. Follow me, I'll take us around the back of the hut and will get us to the well without going through the village."

Kagome didn't wait for a response, instead walking to the entrance of the hut and opening the flap immediately. Inuyasha pulled down his undershirt and jacket, grumbling at the way the thick bandage made them feel tight, and followed her lead.

After sneaking around the back of the hut, as quietly and as inconspicuously as they could manage, the pair of them traipsed through Kaede's herb garden and onto a grassy knoll. Inuyasha noticed the stairs leading up the village shrine as they walked across the hill. They skirted toward the front of the village and into forest, remaining outside the crop fields and huts and amongst tall grasses and trees. The pair remained silent the entire time, attempting to keep even their footsteps softer than usual. They traced the familiar path from the village to the Goshinboku, and they both cringed as the foul smell of Bachi Hebi's flesh reached their nostrils when they entered the clearing that held the great tree. Inuyasha noticed that Kagome's face was crestfallen again, the melancholic expression returning. She wasn't crying. He wondered if she might be out of tears.

The meadow shone in the mid-morning sun as they entered it, the green grasses calm and pristine. A few stray wildflowers popped out of the grass, and he noticed that a wide line of grass was pressed into the ground. _Probably from Bachi Hebi…_ His suspicion was confirmed when he spotted smears of blood on some of the blades.

The well sat in the middle of the meadow. Inuyasha approached it first and broke the silence. "Are you going to be okay, when I go back?"

"Inuyasha," Kagome spoke and stepped up beside him. "I'll be fine. You need to go. Your mother is probably worried about you." Her voice softened and cracked as she finished the sentence, and she fought fresh tears.

"What will you do?" He ran his hand across the coarse wood that made up the lip of the well.

"Oh I don't know… I'll be okay though." Kagome put on a brave face and forced a smile.

"Keh." Inuyasha sat down on the side of the well. "I can respect that."

Kagome stepped forward, then paused in hesitation before deciding to sit down next to him. "Then it was nice knowing you Inuyasha."

"Eh?"

"I really mean that," she continued. "I mean you unsealed me, but it's not just that."

"What else is it?" Inuyasha intoned, curious. She reached up her hand and held it above her forehead, shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight.

"I just appreciate that someone else was willing to give me a chance."

"Kagome…"

"And I think that's enough to get by, for a while. Knowing that I might meet someone else like you… that's good enough." She made direct eye contact with him and smiled lightly. "Thanks for that."

Inuyasha stared at her, absorbing her words with both confusion and gratitude. He had no idea what he'd done for Kagome that had been so special. He hadn't gone out of his way to do anything for her. He'd just acted naturally, done what came to him, reacted in a manner that made sense to him.

"So the reason I came through the well, was because Bachi Hebi pulled me through…"

"You mentioned that."

"Oi, just reminding you," he clarified. "I thought that maybe if one youkai were ready to attack me in there, maybe others would be as well."

Kagome blinked, not getting what he was trying to say. "Well you're a miko…"

"Am not!" Inuyasha retorted.

"A guy with spiritual powers who doesn't want to be a priest. Is that better?" Kagome rolled her eyes.

He crossed his arms. "I don't know how to do any of that shit though. It just happened last time I did it." Inuyasha's brows furrowed and he frowned, embarrassed at what he was about to ask. "But I mean if it does happen, it might be nice to… have someone there." He tapped his fingers on his crossed forearms. "I mean it's not like I don't think I could kick its ass, but just in case I need some… backup."

His fear that a youkai would come after him in the well was minimal. He wasn't stupid. He no longer had the shikon no tama, which was the item the youkai would be after him for. He wondered for a moment, if Kaede would be stuck protecting the jewel now. _She's a miko. That kind of stuff is her job… and if she can't do it, she can find another miko._ He didn't feel any affection toward the elderly woman.

But he couldn't just ditch Kagome. It was a ridiculous idea, inviting her to the modern era. He had no idea what his motives were behind doing it. Inuyasha couldn't think past the fact that he refused to willingly leave a girl who'd just lost her family alone. What would she do once she got there? He hadn't thought about it. Inuyasha was not a master of planning ahead. His thought pattern didn't remotely venture into what a hanyou girl would do in a modern era without the scantest hint of anything mystical (or where she'd stay, or anything of the sort).

"You want me to come with you?" Kagome asked, disbelieving.

"Yeah, why not?"

She glanced towards the edge of the meadow, where the wood that led to the Goshinboku began. There was nothing left for her here. No family, no friends, no home. Inuyasha's country sounded like a nice place, free of the isolation that condemned her here. Maybe she could make her own home there.

"Okay, I'll come." She glimpsed down the inky black depths of the well.

He nodded. "Here goes then." Inuyasha swung around the lip of the well, catching the ladder with his hands. He stepped down a few notches and Kagome followed suit. Once he reached the bottom of the ladder, Inuyasha leapt off, and instead of landing on the cold dirt of the well, found himself in the blue-black void between worlds. Kagome appeared beside him half a moment later.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I don't normally make notes at the end of chapters, but I wanted to make it clear that, this fic will be coming back to the sengoku jidai (and soon). I think the trip to the modern era will last a chapter, two chapters maximum. Then not only will we be returning to the sengoku jidai, but we'll be getting back to the battle intensive plotline of the story. The first big battle arc, as well as more explanation regarding the histories of the characters, will occur then.


End file.
